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Undercover FBI Agents Say Chicago College Student Tried To Write Code For ISIS
USA Today
Undercover FBI Agents Say Chicago College Student Tried To Write Code For ISIS
by Grace Hauck
CHICAGO — A 20-year-old U.S. college student was arrested Monday for allegedly writing computer code to help the Islamic State spread propaganda online, according to the FBI.
Thomas Osadzinski, a student at DePaul University who lives in the city's northside neighborhood of Buena Park, was charged in a federal criminal complaint with one count of attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization — a charge punishable by up to 20 years.
Osadzinski appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole in Chicago Tuesday and was ordered held without bond.
According to the complaint, Osadzinski designed a process that uses a computer script to make ISIS propaganda easier to access and disseminate on a social media platform, bypassing preventive code which routinely removes ISIS content due to the violent nature of the materials.
